The Vietnam War Dog Memorial was dedicated Sept. 28, 2019 at Motts Military Museum in Groveport, Ohio. The sculpture is modeled after Ed Reeves (of Grove City, OH) and his dog Prince.
Blog Archives
Norman Rockwell & Willie Gillis
Rockwell by Boyer
Norman Rockwell has been a well-known artist since his first magazine cover. His work helped the home front during the war in more ways than just a nice painting at the news stand. He produced over 300 covers in his 50-year career. His influence is still felt today.
Rockwell’s Willie Gillis Jr.
Willie Gillis, Jr. (more commonly simply Willie Gillis) is a fictional character created by Norman Rockwell for a series of World War II paintings that appeared on the covers of eleven issues of the Saturday Evening Post between 1941 and 1946. With the rank of Private, Gillis was an every man whose career was tracked on the cover of the Post from induction through discharge without being depicted in battle. Gillis and his girlfriend were modeled by two of Rockwell’s acquaintances.
Although Gillis was not exclusively used on Post covers, the Willie Gillis series of covers was a hallmark of Rockwell’s wartime work. In Rockwell’s prime and at the peak of its popularity, the Post had a subscriber list of 4 million, and many of these subscribers believed Gillis was a real person. Rockwell’s wartime art, including Willie Gillis, the Four Freedoms and Rosie the Riveter, contributed to the success of the wartime bond sales efforts.
Robert Otis Buck aka Willie Gillis Jr.
Robert Otis “Bob” Buck served as Rockwell’s model for Gillis and eventually enlisted for service in the U.S. Navy, despite being except from the draft. When the 15-year-old Buck met Rockwell to pose for the first time, Buck only stood 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 m) tall. At that time, Buck had a lock of hair that used to drop down on his forehead. Rockwell had been seeking a model, and met Buck at a square dance in Arlington, Vermont. Buck’s job in Arlington was as a sawmill hand. Rockwell observed Buck from different angles during the dance, and Buck told Rockwell that if he did not stop staring, Buck would knock him flat.
Since 1999 the Gillis series has been included in two major Rockwell tours. From 1999 to 2002 it toured as part of a Rockwell Post cover art retrospective, and from 2006 to 2010 it toured as part of a 1940’s World War II Rockwell art exhibition.
Rockwell did not name his works, but many of them have one or two names by which they are known. The following are the eleven Willie Gillis Saturday Evening Post cover paintings:
- October 4, 1941 – Willie Gillis: Food Package/Willie Gillis: Package From Home
- November 29, 1941 – Willie Gillis: Home Sweet Home/Willie Gillis: Home On Leave
- February 7, 1942 – Willie Gillis: USO
- April 11, 1942 – Willie Gillis: Hometown News/Willie Gillis: On K.P.
- June 27, 1942 – Willie Gillis: What To Do in a Blackout
- July 25, 1942 – Willie Gillis in Church
- September 5, 1942 – Willie Gillis: Girls with Letters/Double Trouble for Willie Gillis
- June 26, 1943 – Willie Gillis: Cat’s Cradle/Willie’s Rope Trick
- January 1, 1944 – Willie Gillis: New Year’s Eve
- Willie Gillis “In Convoy”
- September 16, 1944- Willie Gillis: Gillis Heritage/Willie Gillis Generations
- October 5, 1946 – Willie Gillis in College
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Current News –
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Home Front Humor – ala Saturday Evening Post –
“I’VE BEEN TRYING TO GET MY LIFE IN ORDER FOR 15 YEARS. NOW MY DRAFT BOARD EXPECTS ME TO DO IT IN 10DAYS!”
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Farewell Salutes –
Lloyd Ahlschwede – Grandin, ND; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO
May Alm (103) – Chewelah, WA; US Army WAC, WWII, ETO, nurse
Hugh Berry – Boston, VA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Co. E/152nd Artillery/11th Airborne Division
John Carter – brn: CHI/CAN; 18th Royal Garhwal Rifles/Indian Army, WWII, CBI, Major
Charles Gentzel – Berlin, MD; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Colonel (Ret.)
William Magidson – Roseville, CA; US Army, WWII, ETO, 507/17th Airborne Division
Jim Miles – Louisville, KY; USMC, WWII
Stanley Raub – Middletown, NY; USMC, WWII, Guam
George Scott – Colchester, ENG; RAF, WWII, B-24 Flight Engineer
Patrick Thomas – Killeen, TX; US Amy, Vietnam, Capt., 8th Field Hospital, Medical Corps
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U.S. Navy Birthday
The US Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which the Continental Congress established on 13 October 1775, by authorizing procurement, fitting out, manning and dispatch of two armed vessels to cruise in search of munitions ships supplying the British Army in America. The legislation also established a Naval Committee to supervise the work. All together, the Continental Navy numbered some 50 ships over the course of the war, with approximately 20 warships active at its maximum strength.
In 1972, Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Elmo R. Zumwait, authorized recognition of 13 October as the Navy’s birthday. Not to be confused with Navy Day (the founding of the Navy Department), the Navy Birthday is intended as an internal activity for members of the active forces and reserves, as well as retirees and dependents. Since 1972, each CNO has encouraged a Navy-wide celebration of this occasion “to enhance a greater appreciation of our Navy heritage and to provide a positive influence toward pride and professionalism in the naval service.”
Although written by a Royal Navy Admiral in 1896, “The Laws of the Navy” began to appear in the US Naval Academy’s “Reef Points” Plebe Handbook and is still there today. The sketches were added by Lt. Rowland Langmaid R.N. during WWI.
Beginning of “The Laws of the Navy”
Part 2
Part 3
End of “The Laws of the Navy
Click on images to enlarge!
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Navy Humor –
HAVE A BALL – BUT DON’T ROCK THE BOAT!!
Lady Popeye
for you submariners
for you surface-vessel types.
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Farewell Salutes –
Russell Allen – Lovell, ME; US Navy, Vietnam
Francis Currey – Selkirk, NY; US Army, WWII, ETO, TSgt., Medal of Honor
Joseph Gildea – Hollidaysburg, PA; US Army, Occupation, 593rd Ordnance / US Navy, Vietnam, Capt., USS Rush & Hancock, US Naval Graduate
Everett Grabau – Spring Valley, MN; US Navy, WWII
K.Wayne Hays – Van Buren, AR; US Navy, WWII, pilot
Joe Irwin – St. Shelbyville, TN; US Navy, WWII, PTO
Rocco Lombardi – Ivoryton, CT; US Navy, WWII, LST-616
Richard McConville – Teaneck, NJ; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Missouri
Robert L. “Cajun Bob” Thoms – Baton Rouge, LA; USMC, Vietnam, SSgt., Silver Star
Alex Wolffenden – New Smyrna Beach, FL; US Navy, WWII
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Another “Rosie” Story
Ruth & Ben Reise
When Ben Reise went to enlist in the military in 1942 during World War II, his future wife, Ruth Fern Gibb, went with him. The two had grown up together in Chicago, meeting in grammar school.
Ben Reise tried to enlist in the Navy, but they told him that he was too short at 5 feet, 4 inches, Ruth Reise said. Next, he went to the Army, which “took him right away.”
At the same time Ben enlisted, Ruth was also offered a job. Her height – 5 feet even – made her the perfect size to climb into airplane gas tanks to secure the rivets. Soon after, she began working at the Douglas Aircraft manufacturing plant, on the site where O’Hare International Airport is today.
From 1942 to 1945, Douglas manufactured 655 C-54 Skymasters, a military transport aircraft, at the Chicago plant. A photo from the Chicago Tribune’s archive shows that the opening of the gas tank on the C-54 was just 13 inches tall and nine inches wide.
“I told [the recruiters], ‘I don’t have any claustrophobia so that will be fine,’” Ruth Reise, now 92, said.
Each day, 15-year-old Reise would go to school, take two streetcars and arrive at her job at 2:30 p.m. She would work until 10 p.m. and head home on the same two streetcars. It was only as an adult that she realized just how young she was when she began working on the planes. Despite her age, she enjoyed the work she did at Douglas, and felt as if she was contributing something to the war.
Although she was called a “Rosie the Riveter” by many – representing the women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II – she said she was part of a two-person team. While the person on the outside of the tank used a rivet gun to shoot the rivet through the metal, she would secure the rivets from the inside.
“I had someone working on the outside of the gas tank, and the lady that was on the outside was a riveter,” Reise said. “I had a little block and gloves and as soon as she started drilling, I had to catch the rivet and make it absolutely perfect. They would come in and inspect, because if I didn’t get it perfect, it had to come out and they had to do it over. They never had to do mine over again,” she said.
While Ben Reise was in Paris, he would send her letters, photos and other pieces of memorabilia. He included photos of the gliders that he flew as a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Forces, a picture of his bunk that included a portrait of her, and a photo of him doing a handstand on top of a plane.
She said he was “the most remarkable handstand person,” and before the war started, the two of them would enter gymnastics contests around Chicago on weekends. “We would do our act and we would always win. It would be $10, so we thought we were millionaires,” she said.
In 1943, he sent her a cartoon that had been published in Yank, the Army’s weekly magazine that ran during World War II. The cartoon was part of George Baker’s series “The Sad Sack.”
Ruth Reise said that his friends would make fun of his dedication to her while he was overseas. “They had made a joke of the fact that he never dated at all when he was there.
On Sept. 2, 1945, the day World War II ended, she was still working in the gas tanks of planes at Douglas Aircraft. “They blew
all the whistles and thousands and thousands of us were out on the grounds. I wish I had been taking photographs of it,” she said.
Throughout the war, she saw patriotism all around her. At school, she said, patriotism was encouraged among students, and with a job so closely connected to the war, she found that “somehow or other, it was acceptable to be that patriotic.” The fact that people around her were drafted or enlisting in the military heightened her dedication to the United States’ cause.
“It was acceptable to be that patriotic, not just because [Ben] was gone, but my stepfather had the six of us and he was next on the roll,” she said. “We didn’t know what we would do if he went in.”
After Ben returned home safely in 1945, the two began making plans for their future. “When he got off the train it was just like I had said goodbye to him,” she said. “Right away, we knew that we were going to decide where we were going to get married.” On Feb. 10, 1946, they got married at her aunt and uncle’s house in Illinois.
The two eventually settled in Wheaton, Illinois, where Ruth Reise still lives today. Ben Reise died in 2012 at the age of 89.
This story is partially from: “Stars and Stripes” magazine
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor –
While he was overseas in 1943, Ben Reise sent Ruth Reise a clipping of this comic strip by George Baker which had been published in Yank, the Army’s weekly magazine that ran during World War II. Ruth said that Ben’s friends would make fun of his dedication to her and compared him to the character in this comic strip.
COURTESY OF RUTH REISE
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Farewell Salutes –
John Arsers – New Ulm, MN; US Merchant Marines, WWII
Frank Bennetti – Butler, PA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, HQS/187/11th Airborne Division
William Burr Jr. – Champagne, IL; US Army, WWII, West Point Class ’44, 101st A/B / Korea, 25th Infantry Div. / Vietnam, Col. (Ret. 33 y.)
Renaldo Jenson – Arco, ID; US Army Air Corps, WWII, CBI, air mechanic / National Guard, Sgt.
Theodore Masterson – Cleveland, OH; US Army, WWII, ETO, 11/5th Infantry Division
James Miller – Oakland, CA; USMC, WWII, PTO, Pvt. C Co./1/24, Purple Heart
Dale Stoner Sr. – York, PA; US Army, WWII, ETO, Military Police, Bronze Star, Purple Heart
John Turnley – Martin, KY; US Navy, WWII
Donn C. Young – Chicago, IL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Major, 90th BS/3rd BG/5th Air Force, KIA (New Guinea)
Jack Van Zandt – Danville, IL; USMC; WWII, Co, A/1/6th Marines, Pfc, KIA (Tarawa)
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The New Boom in the Food Industry
Food has often been an important part of warfare. What is less known is how food developed for warfare changed people’s lives after the war. The most important development happened after World War II, though the canning process has been around for a long time.
Canned food started by using tin cans to preserve various items in the early 19th century. British sailors and explorers found that canned food was a relatively easy way to supplement their rations. For example, the Arctic explorer William Parry took canned beef and pea soup on his voyage. By the middle of the 19th century many of the middle class in Europe bought canned food as novelty items.
The American Civil War, Crimean War, and Franco Prussian War introduced hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the novelty and enjoyment of canned foods, which expanded their consumption even more. Yet at this time they still remained relatively fringe items used by explorers and military.
It was the millions of men fighting in World War I and II that created an explosion in demand for canned food. The American government in particular faced problems connected to supplying troops in multiple theaters of combat around the world. They had to supply and feed millions of men with items that transported safely, survived trench conditions, and didn’t spoil in transport.
Canned foods thus became a pivotal part of the wartime experience. The C rations in particular were pre-made meals that could be eaten either warm or cold, so they often became the main staple of the war weary troops.
Sometimes they got lucky in being able to supplement their canned rations with local foods, and in World War II the rations of Allied servicemen often included M&Ms and Coca-Cola. The M&M candies were particularly liked because their hard outer shell prevented the chocolate interior from melting during transport to hot and humid locations in southeast Asia.
“Coke” became the preferred drink of the troops due to a marketing campaign in the States: any American in uniform could buy a Coke for a nickel regardless of its listed price. But there were few sources of the drink for Americans serving in Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Accordingly, General Eisenhower requested 3 million bottles of Coke be shipped to his current location in North Africa, along with the equipment and supplies to refill them as needed so they could maintain a permanent supply of Coke.
Coke machine worked by the refrigeration crew of the 64th Seabees [Naval Construction Battalion] inTubabao, Samar, Philippines. Gift of Joseph Cohen, The National WWII Museum Inc., 2003.083.071
Both Coca-Cola and canned goods remained popular after the war. Coke products inspired a worldwide thirst, and the canned food companies sold their surplus goods on the civilian market. They also developed a marketing campaign to relate the convenience of canned foods to the demands of busy modern life.
WWII Coca Cola ad
Mass production of instant meals in factories extensively lowered their cost and expanded their use across the lower and middle classes. Some of these items included powdered cheeses, instant drinks, and cured meats, which were all developed during World War II but later became staples in the civilian world. These developments in turn changed the palate of the American consumer and much of the world they had touched.
So the next time you don’t feel like cooking and open up a can of soup, or grab some M&Ms and wash them down with a Coke, you’ll appreciate the fascinating history of how your tastes for such foods resulted from developments during wars, and how some of those foods were first experienced by soldiers that were often thousands of miles away.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Current News –
TF – 102 at award ceremony
The Green Berets of the U.S. Army 10th Special Forces Group received 48 combat awards for the action in Afghanistan. Task Force 102 were awarded:
5 Silver Stars
7 Bronze Stars w/ Valor devices
15 Army Commendation Medals w/ Valor
21 Purple Hearts
Unfortunately it cost them 3 KIA and 1 non-combat death.
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Blog News –
Unfortunately, we have lost a wonderful fellow blogger who has been a friend to many of us. Brian Edward Smith, also know
as Beari, ElBob or Lord Beari of Bow, of Australia, passed away on 24 September 2019. He will be greatly missed.
A note from his daughter, Sarah reads:
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Gerald Abel – London, CAN; Merchant Navy / RC Army, WWII
John R. Bayens – Louisville, KY; USMC, WWII, PTO, Pvt., Co. B/1/6th Marines, KIA (Tarawa)
Norman A. Buan – Long Prairie, MN; USMC, WWII, PTO, Co. C/2nd Marines, KIA (Tarawa)
George Clark – Rome, MS; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Astoria
Bill Etherton – Buffalo, IL; US Army, Occupation, 11th Airborne Division
George Flint – Lima, OH; US Army, WWII, 87th Infantry
Morris Maxwell – Gentry, AR; US Army, WWII, PTO
David Pershing (101) – Houston, TX; US Navy, WWII, PTO, pilot, USS Belleau Wood / USNR, Capt. (Ret.)
Clyde Sheffield – Daytona, FL; US Army, Korea & Vietnam, Major (Ret. 22 y.), Bronze Star
Louis Wieseham – Richmond, IN; USMC, WWII, PTO, Pfc, E Co./2/8th Marines, KIA (Tarawa)
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Nisei – conclusion – Nisei WACs
If you were asked to describe a “soldier,” what kind of image does that word conjure up in your mind? Popular media has generally portrayed the American soldier as a muscular white male, or sometimes a white female, and while they may have constituted the majority of the U.S. military force, history fails to give recognition to the Asian American women who contributed to the U.S.’s victory by taking on many different roles during World War II to assist the armed forces.
Starting in 1943, Japanese women, known as “Nisei” or (first generation born from immigrants), were accepted by the Army Nurse Corps (ANC) and the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) to work as nurses and doctors to provide medical care and as Military Intelligence Service officers and linguists.. Though Asian American women served many important functions in World War II, they are still overlooked or completely ignored in modern discourse.
This post focuses on the Nisei women who served as linguists and their struggles balancing their identities as an American woman and a Japanese woman, while studying their mother tongue under considerable pressure at the U.S. War Department’s Military Intelligence Service Language School in Fort Snelling, Minnesota.
Their histories and struggles during the war are just as valid as any other American war veteran’s experiences out on the field. Women began turning them away from their traditional societal roles as homemakers and caretakers towards more proactive roles opening up in the factories and the military.
Private Shizuko Shinagawa, 21, of the Women’s Army Corps, who was sent to Denver to recruit Japanese-American women for the WAC. May 22, 1944, Denver, Colorado. Courtesy of WRA no. G-563, War Relocation Authority Photographs of Japanese-American Evacuation and Resettlement, BANC PIC 1967.014–PIC, the Bancroft Library
For Japanese Americans, on the West Coast, however, with Japan being the “enemy nation” after bombing Pearl Harbor in 1941, they were labeled as “enemy aliens” and by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, forced from their homes into internment camps. The military recognized the need to improve intelligence operations and trained and recruited specialists in the Japanese language to serve as interpreters, interrogators, and translators, and so around 5,500 Nisei were assigned to the Military Intelligence Service.
Nisei soldiers in Oregon
With struggles against racism combined with normalized sexism in the military, Nisei women, and many other Asian American women, had a unique experience while serving their country. While Military administrators rationalized the idea of accepting women, especially Japanese American women, it was under gendered and racialized reasoning. The WACs were given assignments that “did not transcend the domestic sphere”, therefore stuck behind desks doing clerical work. Furthermore, they were expected to emphasize their femininity through their physical appearances, “feminine” meaning short skirts and makeup. Along with these demands, the Nisei WACS were also expected to act as “American women” but retain their Japanese linguistic heritage in order “to serve as role models as Japanese women.
Nisei WACs
Like many second or third-generation Asian Americans today, Nisei WACs did not all possess fluency in Japanese, especially not at the level needed to comprehend military-related documents, hence they were sent to MIS school to learn Japanese.
Difficulties:
“I wasn’t very strong in Japanese, coming from an area [Idaho] where there were no Orientals. We just didn’t speak the language… And so, when we were sent to Japan, I had an awful hard time working with [Japanese] military terms…Some of the girls from Hawaii used to work as radio announcers in Japanese. They had a lot more training and they could read and write [Japanese] fluently. At Fort Snelling, I was in one of the lowest classes, just learning the basics.
Nisei Women’s Army Corps, Ft. Snelling
After they graduated from MISLS, they were assigned to various military sectors and helped the military forces immensely. Many of the graduates worked at war crimes trials as translators and interrogators and helped link a number of atrocities to individual Japanese by the captured diaries and letters, written during wartime, that they studied. Maybe one of their most impressive contributions, in the Civil Affairs branch, was censorship- screening the press, inspecting the postal system, watching communications of all kinds, and helping to find out what “has gone on in Japan these many years.” These linguists classified approximately 2,000,000 Japanese documents according to tactical, strategic, or long-range value. In all, they translated some 20,000,000 pages.
The WAC’s and other Nisei linguists’ work for the United States should be honored and remembered. They wanted to serve in the U.S. military for various reasons, but mainly to show their loyalty to the United States. Some were also motivated by reasons that were rooted in their culture and status in their family and community. One former Nisei WAC, Grace Harada reveals her discussion with her parents on why she felt the need to serve in the military:
“They just felt that I shouldn’t be doing something like that, and going so far away from
home. But I told them that I just couldn’t stay home and do housework. I wasn’t accomplishing anything. [Harada’s brother had already joined the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.] I said [to my parents] “There is a war going on and he can’t do it alone.” …I said what I would be doing is replacing all these men to help end the war. I tried to talk with my parents into letting me go, and finally they released me and signed the consent for me to go in.”
Nisei female nursing cadets
With political circumstances so against them, the Nisei had made every effort to forget their Japanese heritage and prove they are “American.” The experience of attending the MISLS was both a challenge and a chance for the Nisei, to balance both of their identities for a cause and prove their loyalty to their homeland, the United States. Furthermore, as Nisei women, they constantly had to navigate social norms and persevere against sexually and racially intertwined expectations to serve as model American women in Japan, yet maintain their “Japanese-ness” to be competent translators. Their experiences are invaluable in that they not only but also expand one’s perspective of what kind of people serve in the military but also add another complex layer to the Asian American narrative.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – 
Saturday Evening Post, 1943
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Farewell Salutes –
Marley Arthurholtz – KY; USMC, WWII, Pfc., USS Oklahoma, KIA, Pearl Harbor
Leonard Brink – Grand Rapids, MI; US Army, WWII, 110/28th Division
Last Flight
Carmen J. Covino (102) – Hamburg, NY; US Army, WWII, ETO
Robert Hatch – Woods Cross, UT; USMC, WWII, PTO, Pfc., D Co./6th Marines, machine-gunner, KIA Tarawa
Rosario Lindberg – Davao, P.I.; Civilian, WWII, PTO, Filipino guerrilla fighter, interpreter for Allies during Japanese trials
Miles Riley – Gooding, ID; US Army, 11th Airborne Division
Joseph Rogers (101) – Royal Oak, MI; US Army, WWII, 95th Chemical Mortar Battalion / Korea, 24th Infantry, Col. (Ret. 31 y.)
Arthur Schaeffer – Philadelphia, PA; US Army, Korea, 82nd Airborne Division
Edward Tyree – Lexington, NC; US Army, Vietnam, 173rd Airborne Division, Purple Heart
Maria Winship – brn: GER/Denver, CO; Civilian, WWII, ETO, translator
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Nisei – part 3 Nisei ROTC in Hawaii
HI Territorial Guard, UH, 1942
On 7 December 1941, the UH ROTC Regiment over 600 strong was called out over the radio to report to duty. We reported to the ROTC Armory, which is that little wooden building now standing at the end of Sinclair Library parking lot. We were greeted by the sight of Sgt. Ward and Sgt. Hogan feverishly inserting firing pins into Springfield .03 rifles. I reported to my unit, Company “B”, 1st Battalion, commanded by Captain Nolle Smith. We were issued a clip of 5 bullets with our rifles.
It was reported that Japanese paratroopers had landed on St. Louis Heights. Our first order was to deploy down across Manoa Stream where Kanewai Park now stands and to prevent the enemy from advancing into the city. We were crouched down among the koa bushes for long hours in the hot sun, waiting for the enemy which never showed up. This turned out to be just another one of the many hysterical rumors that spread across Honolulu that day.
During those few hours of service, we had no military status or standing, federal or territorial. We were just University ROTC boys heeding our country’s desperate call to arms. For our participation in “the campaign for St. Louis Heights,” many years later in 1977, the University ROTC was awarded with a battle streamer distinguishing it as the first and only ROTC unit in the United States to engage in active war service during World War II!
Richard Okamoto at HI firing range, 1943
On the afternoon of December 7, 1941, the University ROTC unit was converted into the Hawaii Territorial Guard and we were trucked down to the National Guard Armory where our State Capitol now stands. We were issued those pie-plate tin helmets and gas masks and immediately assigned to guard Lolani Palace, the Courthouse, Hawaiian Electric, Mutual Telephone, and Board of Water Supply, and all other government buildings and utilities all over the city. Company B was headquartered in the Dole Pineapple building and assigned to guard the Iwilei industrial district and the waterfront and to defend against a Japanese invasion attack. Just imagine the pitiful sight of a greenhorn teenage soldier who never fired a gun crouched behind a sandbagged emplacement at Pier 10 defending against a Japanese invasion of Honolulu Harbor with a measly 30 caliber rifle and five bullets. Mercifully and thankfully, the enemy never invaded! But the important thing was that we had responded to the call, we were proud to wear the American uniform, and we were serving our country in its direst hour of need!
We served for six weeks after Pearl Harbor, but by January 19, 1942, the high brass in Pentagon had discovered to its horror that the city of Honolulu was being defended by hundreds of Japs in American uniforms! It should be mentioned here that over 75% of the HTG guardsmen were men of Japanese ancestry. The order came down that all HTG guardsmen of Japanese ancestry were discharged. If they had dropped a bomb in our midst. it couldn’t have been more devastating. That blow of being rejected by your own country only because of your name, your face, and your race, was far worse than Pearl Harbor itself. Every Nisei who suffered that indignity will attest to the fact that that rejection was absolutely the lowest point in our long lives!
7 Who Gave Their All
We could do nothing else but return to the University. But books and classrooms made no sense, when our country was crying for military and defense manpower, and yet we were distrusted, unwanted, useless. But within a week’s time, Hung Wai Ching, who was then Executive Secretary of the Atherton YMCA near the UH campus, met with a group of the discharged Nisei, and soon inspired and convinced them why not offer themselves as a labor battalion. His key pitch was “So they don’t trust you with a gun. Wouldn’t they trust you with picks and shovels?” By February 25, 1942, a petition signed by 169 University students offering their services as a labor battalion was accepted by the Military Governor.
This group known as the “Varsity Victory Volunteers” was assigned to the 34th Combat Engineers Regiment at Schofield Barracks performing vital defense work on Oahu. For the next 11 months, they dug ammunition pits, built secondary mountain roads, repaired bridges and culverts, built warehouses and field housing. and operated the rock quarry. One day in December, 1942, Secretary of War John McCloy, making a field inspection of Oahu defenses, witnessed the VVV Quarry Gang operating the quarry up at Kolekole Pass, and was told the story of the VVV by his escort, Hung Wai Ching. By some coincidence or otherwise, just a month later in January, 1943, the War Department announced its decision to form an all-Nisei combat team and issued a call for volunteers. On January 30, 1943, members of the VVV voted to disband so they could volunteer for the 442nd Combat Team. Most of the men were accepted and served the duration of the war with the 442nd, and also with the Military Intelligence Service. The rest is well known history.
Editors note: The words above were delivered on 3 December 2001, at the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial Visitor’s Center as part of the 60th Anniversary remembrance of the Dec. 7th 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor –
‘Hey, most climb over, but whatever works for you.’
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Farewell Salutes –
Allen Bradley – Dillon, MT; US Army, WWII & Korea, 82 Airborne Division
Jack Crawford – Phoenix City, AL; US Army, WWII, Purple Heart
Grant Ichikawa – Suison Valley, CA; US Army, PTO, MIS’er, Lt.,/ Korea / CIA
Trevor Joseph – Collierville, TN; US Army, Afghanistan, 1/5th Aviation Regiment, “Cajun Dustoff” MEDEVAC, Major, KIA Fort Polk
Shiro Kashino – Seattle, WA; US Army, WWII, ETO, 442nd Regimental Combat Team
John L. Keenan – Brooklyn, NY; US Army, WWII, ETO / NYPD, “Son of Sam” Task Force Cmdr.
Michael Meehan – brn: IRE/Edison, NJ; US Army, Occupation, 25th Infantry Signal Co./11th Airborne Division
Kelly Richards – Grayling, MI; US Army, SSgt., medic, Iraq & Afghanistan, KIA
Ephrain “Hank” Royfe – Philadelphia, PA; US Army, WWII, PTO, translator
William Tinker – Caney, KS; US Army Air Corps, WWII
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Nisei – part 2
306th HQ Intelligence Detachment, XXIV Corps, Leyte, Philippines, November 1, 1944. Front row, l to r: George Shimotori, Saburo Okamura, Thomas Sasaki, Francis Yamamoto Herbert Nishihara, Warren Tsuneishi. Back row, l to r: Hiroshi Itow, Joe Nishihara, Lt. Richard Kleeman, TSgt George Takabayashi, Lloyd Shimasato.
(Signal Corps photo)
When the first graduates were sent to the Pacific and landed in Australia, they were part of the Americal troops. Many were sent to help with the fighting on Iwo Jima, which MacArthur felt was taking far too long to complete. Some stayed and worked with the Australian troops and others went to British or Canadian units. (Canada also had their own S-20 Japanese Language School in Vancouver, British Columbia to train interpreters.) Only the U.S. Navy rejected the linguists. Admiral Halsey did in fact understand their importance and requested some MIS’ers for his fleet, but as a whole, Nimitz and the rest of the navy wanted to continue using their own intelligence personnel. (A very serious mistake in Leyte Gulf.)
It was difficult to locate the Nisei that worked G-2 specifically for the 11th Airborne and when because the men were rarely ever put on the official rosters. A MISer could train with the 11th Airborne on New Guinea and by December he was in Burma or up in the Aleutians. They were as difficult to track as the 11th A/B themselves. One Nisei found himself stuck at the Panama Canal, not at all certain what he was supposed to do there.
Nisei at work in Manila, P.I.
But, I did manage to locate a fair number of fellow paratroopers from Smitty’s division: Clarence Ohta and John Nakahara jumped with the 11th on Luzon. George Kojima, Koshi Ando and James Harada were with the 503d Regiment. Harry Akune jumped on Corregidor without any training, injured his ankle and went to work translating immediately. He was later at Atsugi airfield with MacArthur. After the service he went back to college. There was also: Robert Kimura and Mitsuo Usui; Takeshi “Jim” Fujisaka (lived in Fresno, CA and passed away 7 Sept. 1996); Tetsuo Koga; Norman Kihuta (with the 511th G-2 was discharged 6 Jan. 1946); Mike Miyatake went back to his customs job after his discharge; Akira Abe took his parachute training, flew to New Guinea and continued with the 11th A/B throughout Leyte and Luzon. Jiro Tukimura and Eddie Tamada were also noted in the records.
Nisei, saving lives by flushing out the caves.
In February of 1943, the Taiyo Maru, a Japanese transport ship, was sunk and a lifeboat washed up on Goodenough Island, north of New Guinea;s eastern tip. On that boat was a document that included a list of 40,000 Imperial Army officers from Hideki Tojo on down. These papers, once translated, gave the rank of each officer, unit assigned, the order of battle and the amount of men in each of these units. This information along with documents previously acquired and translated established the exact location of all Japanese units. This work alone was worth the time and effort of forming the MIS.
Click on images to enlarge.
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SHOUT OUT !!!
James South, 99 year old veteran, is about to turn 100 on 7 October. He has asked for one thing for this occasion — to receive 100 birthday cards!! Help him have his wish come true……
James South, 5800 North Park Drive, Watauga, TX 76148
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Military Humor –
“Thank you, sir — all we needed was somebody blowin’ his horn.”
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Farewell Salutes –
Alvie Boles (100) – Rosedale, OK; US Army, WWII. Purple Heart
William Davis – Topeka, KS; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, P-51
Dorothy Doerr – St Clair, MO; Civilian, “Rosie” at Curtiss Wright Aircraft, WWII
Robert Engel – E. Greenbush, NY; US Army, 11th Airborne Division
Harold Hayward (101) – Lower Hutt, NZ; RNZ Air Force # 74142, WWII, Wing Commander
Herschel Mattes – Pittsburgh, PA/Avon, CT; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, pilot, 1st Lt., 525 FS/86th Fighter Group, KIA
W. Ray Painter (100) – Augusta, GA; US Army, WWII
John Runkle Jr. – Washington D.C.; US Navy, WWII, APO / Korea
Henry C. Smith – Manistee, MI; US Army, WWII, CBI; Sgt., Merrill’s Marauders, Silver Star
Maurice ‘Migs’ Turner – Winnipeg, CAN; RCNVR, WWII, Sub-Lt., HMCS Guelph / NATO / RC Coast Guard
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Nisei – part 1
Nisei soldiers
Smitty held the Nisei in very high regard and I would be remiss in neglecting to tell their story. Beside, one of these men might have been directly responsible for the safe return of my father. In reality, it would be near impossible to relate a story of the Pacific War without mentioning their service. Some of this unique intelligence force worked ‘behind the scene’ stateside U.S.A. or Australia, but many were up front and fighting at and behind enemy lines.
Smitty always had extreme appreciation for the courage, resilience and down-right crazy stunts they pulled off. They were capable of going behind the lines to acquire information or cut into the radio lines and all the while they remained quite aware that their own units might mistake them for the enemy when they returned. This did happen more than once.
Most everyone is aware of whom the Nisei are, but for clarification purposes, here are some of the terms that might be used in this section or if you continue with your own research:
AJA – Americans of Japanese Ancestry
MISers – the name used for students and graduates of the Military Intelligence Service Language School
Issei – first generation Japanese-American
Nisei – second generation Japanese-American, (this term is for definition only – Nisei prefer to state that they are American)
Kibei – Japanese-American who received education in Japan
At the language school, the students were crammed with courses and put on a strict schedule. Some courses included:
Kanji – a Japanese method of writing based on Chinese logographic characters
Kaisho – the printed form of Kanji and can only be read by someone who has memorized a great number of ideographs
Gyosho – hand written Japanese, very similar to the Palmer Method of Penmanship and is very difficult for Americans
Sosho – the shorthand version of Kanji and almost impossible for an American to learn. Most Japanese field orders were taken down by this method.
Kai Rasmussen (center)
It must be noted that many of these men had family incarcerated in detainment camps and serving in the Imperial Army & Navy, but in school, on the job and in combat they loyally worked to do their level best. The language school began 1 November 1941 at Crissy Field, with Lt. Colonel John Wickerling in charge. His right hand man, educator and recruiter, Kai Rasmussen, was a primary force in the success of the school. He was a West Point grad who spoke Japanese with a Danish accent and would eventually earn the Legion of Merit for his efforts.
A move was necessary from San Francisco to Camp Savage, Minnesota. The change in location was largely due to the bigotry that had overwhelmed California at the time. The most influential white supremacists included: Earl Warren; The Natives Sons and Daughters of the Golden West; William Randolph Hearst and his newspapers and Congressman Leland Ford. Eventually, the school needed to expand and moved to Fort Snelling, St. Paul.
Rasmussen’s right hand man was John Fujio Aiso, an attorney out of Brown and Harvard and had studied at Chuo University in Tokyo. (He was originally assigned to a motor pool because the Army felt they had no need for additional lawyers.) Rasmussen traveled across the country in attempts to find candidates for the school. The Pentagon had kept the paperwork for the operations of the Nisei secret for three decades, but Smitty began talking about them once I was old enough to ask questions.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor –
“AIM FOR THE CAT!”
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Farewell Salutes –
Malcolm Armstrong – Ardmore, OK; US Army, WWII, Purple Heart
John Bagwell – Arab, AL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 511/11th Airborne Division
Milo Durant – Manawatu, NZ; NZEF #453408, WWII, Pvte.
Virginia Fallon – New Haven, CT; Civilian, WWII, Winchester Repeating Arms, ammo inspector
Raymond Goulet – New Bedford, MA; US Army, WWII, ETO, 85th Infantry Division
Ralph Hatcher – Indianapolis, IN; US Army, Vietnam,101st Airborne Division, medic
T. Chester McKeon – Prairie Grove, AR; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, B-25 crew chief, MSgt.
Harvey Nichols – Braxton, MS; US Army, WWII, PTO, POW, KIA
Charles Peck – Hansville, WA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, gunner
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Andrew Jackson Higgins – A Legacy
Andrew Jackson Higgins
Andrew Jackson Higgins, the man Dwight D. Eisenhower once credited with winning World War II, was a wild and wily genius.
At the New Orleans plant where his company built the boats that brought troops ashore at Normandy on June 6, 1944, Higgins hung a sign that said, “Anybody caught stealing tools out of this yard won’t get fired — he’ll go to the hospital.”
Whatever Higgins did, he did it a lot. “His profanity,” Life magazine said, was “famous for its opulence and volume.” So was his thirst for Old Taylor bourbon, though he curtailed his intake by limiting his sips to a specific location.
“I only drink,” he told Life magazine, “while I’m working.”
“It is Higgins himself who takes your breath away,” Raymond Moley, a former FDR adviser, wrote in Newsweek in 1943. “Higgins is an authentic master builder, with the kind of will power, brains, drive and daring that characterized the American empire builders of an earlier generation.”
USNS Andrew J. Higgins, Sept. 1987
Higgins was not native to the South, despite his love of bourbon. He grew up in Nebraska, where, at various ages, he was expelled from school for fighting. Higgins’ temperament improved around boats. He built his first vessel in the basement when he was 12. It was so large that a wall had to be torn down to get it out.
He moved South in his early 20s, working in the lumber industry. He hadn’t thought much about boats again until a tract of timber in shallow waters required him to build a special vessel so he could remove the wood. Higgins signed up for a correspondence course in naval architecture, shifting his work from timber to boats.
In the late 1930s, he owned a small shipyard in New Orleans. By then, his special shallow-craft boat had become popular with loggers and oil drillers. They were “tunnel stern boats,” whose magic was in the way the “hull incorporated a recessed tunnel used to protect the propeller from grounding,” according to the Louisiana Historical Association.
Higgins ‘Eureka’ boat
Higgins called it the “Eureka” boat. The war brought interest by U.S. forces in a similar style vessel to attack unguarded beaches and avoid coming ashore at heavily defended ports. The Marines settled on the Higgins boat, transforming what had been a 50-employee company into one of the world’s largest manufacturers.
“To put Higgins’s accomplishment in perspective,” historian Douglas Brinkley wrote in a 2000 article in American Heritage magazine, consider this: “By September 1943, 12,964 of the American Navy’s 14,072 vessels had been designed by Higgins Industries. Put another way, 92 percent of the U.S. Navy was a Higgins navy.”
Though Eisenhower and even Hitler acknowledged the importance of the Higgins boat — military leaders came to call it “the bridge to the beach” — its builder went mostly unmentioned in histories of the war. That is, until 17 years ago, when the World War II Museum opened in New Orleans and recognized Higgins’ life, displaying a reproduction of his boat.
Still, there’s been just one biography written: “Andrew Jackson Higgins and the Boats that Won World War II” by historian Jerry Strahan.
“Without Higgins’s uniquely designed craft, there could not have been a mass landing of troops and matériel on European shores or the beaches of the Pacific islands, at least not without a tremendously higher rate of Allied casualties,” Strahan wrote.
Higgins Hotel, New Orleans
The WWII Museum in New Orleans officially broke ground on the Higgins Hotel directly across the street from the museum in 2017.
“The one man in the South I want especially to see is Andrew Jackson Higgins. I want to tell him, face to face, that Higgins’ landing boats such as we had at Guadalcanal are the best in the world. They do everything but talk; honest they do.” ___ Warrant Officer Machinist, James D. Fox, quoted in the Shreveport Times, 6 March 1943
AJ Higgins held 30 patents, mostly covering amphibious landing craft and vehicles.
Higgins died in New Orleans on 1 August 1952, and was buried in Metairie Cemetery. He had been hospitalized for a week to treat stomach ulcers when he suffered a fatal stroke.
Article resources: The World War II Museum in New Orleans (2018 Annual Report), The Marine Corps & the Washington Post.
There will be more information on the boats in the upcoming post.
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Military Humor – Navy Style ……
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Farewell Salutes –
Bill Balser – Anderson, IN; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co. A/127th Engineers/11th Airborne Division
Thomas Carney – Naples, FL; US Army, Vietnam, 173rd A/B Brigade / Cmdr. of 5th Infantry Div., Lt. Gen. (Ret. 35 y.)
Donald Davis – Orangeville, PA; USMC, WWII, PTO
Bill Hardin – Wheat Ridge, CO; US Navy, WWII, PTO, 72nd Sea Bees
John Johnson – Sanford, NC; US Army, WWII, 9th Infantry Medical Detachment, medic
Garry Massa – Pickney, MI; US Army, Vietnam, 82nd Airborne Division
Roger Patrick – Tabor, IA; US Army, WWII, Sgt.
Paul “Ken” Rash – Indianapolis, IN; US Navy, WWII, PTO
Roy Schwabe (100) – Park Ridge, IL; US Army, WWII
Carl Wheaton – Bar Harbor, ME; USMC, WWII, PTO, Lt. Colonel, pilot
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The Burma Jeep
Ford GTP, Burma Jeep
1943 Ford GTBA G622
The Ford GTB, called the “Burma Jeep”, was produced during WWII and was used primarily by the US Navy and Marine Corps and used exclusively in the Pacific Theater during World War II, many used on the “Burma Road”. Its Ordinance Standard nomenclature number was G-622. Ford produced the low silhouette, short and maneuverable GTB in five models collectively called the G-622.
Total production of the 1-½ ton models was over 15,000 units, including these variants:
- GTB truck, Cargo
- GTBA truck, (US Navy)
- GTBB truck, Wrecker, (Rare, only 50 produced)
- GTBS truck, Bomb Service with crane (US Navy)
- GTBC truck, Bomb Service with crane (USN, improved)
The Burma Jeeps were powered by a Ford 6-cylinder flathead gasoline engine producing 90 horsepower. They were 1-½ ton capacity, 4-wheel drive with a 4-speed transmission and a 2-speed transfer case. The Burma Jeep on display at Estrella WarBirds Museum has dual real wheels, 4-wheel drive, and a 10,000 lb Braden MU-6 winch.
Ford records indicate the paint color specified by the US Navy was “Ocean Gray” for all Navy contracts. The G-622 GTB vehicles were produced with and without a 10,000 lb. Gar Wood or Braden front mounted winch. All models except the GTBS had dual rear wheels. The cowl covering the engine separated the cab area, and the passenger seat was a light metal frame, which faced the driver, and could be enclosed by raising the windshield and installing a canvas top. The cargo truck had troop seats and bows for a canvas cover.
This truck (GTBA model) was probably built in July 1943 at the Edgewater, NJ Ford Plant. After the war, it was purchased by the MacGillivry Ranch from the US Navy at Pt. Magu, and used as a ranch truck. In 1998 it was donated to the Estrella Warbird Museum, and in 2008-2009, it was restored with funds provided by the McGillivry Family. Restoration included complete brake overhaul, new passenger seat, upholstery, tires , and a complete paint job.
Pictures are courtesy of Mecum Auctions & Estrella Warbirds Museum.
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Military Humor –
When you’re in a jeep and they’re in an armored vehicle with a gigantic robotic arm – you just may want to keep your mouth SHUT!
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Farewell Salutes –
George Andrews – Norwich, CT; US Army, WWII, PTO, Graves Registration Unit
Daniel Benarcik Sr. – Wilmington, DE; US Army, WWII
Harold Costill – Clayton, NJ; US Navy, Pearl Harbor, fireman 3rd Class, USS West Virginia, KIA
Franklin Galloway – Rosman, NC; US Army, Korea, Co. E/187th RCT
John Kennedy – Lake Bluff, IL; US Army, WWII, Sgt.
Ernest Malone – Gloucester, LA; US Army, 101st Airborne Division, MSgt. (Ret. 25 y.)
Jack Reynolds – Chichester, ENG; Royal Army, WWII, ETO, Lt., 1st Airborne Division, POW
Jack Smith – Albuquerque, NM; US Navy, WWII, PTO, oil tanker navigator
Donald Steimel – Des Moines, IA; US Navy, WWII, PTO,troop carrier, USS Scout
Martin Vespo Sr. (100) – Peekskill, NY; US Navy, WWII, USS Carondelet
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If you fancy taking some time to remember dad I know he would love you to listen to Beethoven’s Missa solemnis. He’d be thrilled to think that was being played around the world for him. He also loved Beethoven s Ninth Symphony or Mozart’s Coronation March. If classical music is not your thing – he loved ol blues eyes – Frank Sinatra!
Sarah’s email is – suzziqqt@hotmail.com